Ice Age (2002)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Chris Wedge | Carlos Saldanha

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Chris Wedge, Goran Višnjić, Jack Black, Diedrich Bader, Alan Tudyk, Cedric the Entertainer, Stephen Root, Jane Krakowski, Lorri Bagley

Storyline

Back when the Earth was covered in ice, an odd group of animals, Manny (Ray Romano), a mammoth, Diego (Denis Leary), a sabertooth tiger, and Sid (John Leguizamo), a sloth, find a lost human infant, and they try to return him to his tribe.

Opinion

As the fifth entry in the franchise is set to be released soon - August 25 in this part of the world -, I took the opportunity to rewatch all the films and review them for you. Today I'm back to the roots, when it all began with "Ice Age", a nice looking, funny and entertaining animated flick.

The story is very simple, lacking both of plot twists and deep morals, but at least it's not banal. It simply chooses to just tell a story about the relationship - eventually it becomes a friendship - between a group of different animals. Not only the look completely different on the outside - one is a mammoth, one a sabertooth tiger and the other a sloth - but the reason that pushes each of them to embark on this journey is different.

The three main animals being so different from each other is the film's biggest strength as it brings a lot of comic and funny situations. And you will fall in love with the characters, especially with the prehistoric squirrel and its desperate attempts to bury its nuts.

The voice cast, especially Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary, does a good job and contributes in the making of this entertaining film, that both kids and adults will enjoy.

The animation isn't spectacular, but I have to give Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation big credits because the budget for this film was relatively small. It's not Pixar's quality, but nobody would have expected that anyway.